Many trains canceled due to landslide in Chi Thanh tunnel

Due to the impact of the landslide at Chi Thanh tunnel in Phu Yen, Vietnam Railways Corporation has canceled SE9/SE10 trains departing from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from May 23 to May 29.

In addition, train SE42 departing from Nha Trang station from May 24 to May 29 and train SE41 departing from Da Nang station from May 25 to May 30 are also canceled.

Train SE51 departing from Hue station on May 22 will only run to Dieu Tri station (Binh Dinh), not from Dieu Tri to Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa). Passengers who have purchased tickets for these trips can return or exchange their tickets free of charge at the station.

Passengers on other trains are still transferred by car between La Hai station (Dong Xuan district) and Tuy Hoa (Tuy Hoa city, Phu Yen province) to continue their journey. The transfer time makes the journey last 1-2 hours longer.

Bên trong hầm đường sắt Chí Thạnh. Ảnh: Kông Thành — Inside the Chi Thanh railway tunnel. Photo: Kong Thanh

At around 10:15 a.m. on May 21, about 30 ^cubic meters of rock and soil suddenly collapsed in the Chi Thanh railway tunnel in Tuy An district, Phu Yen province, and then continued to collapse by hundreds of cubic meters. Over the past two days, the railway industry has transported 24 trains with more than 5,800 passengers by road through the incident area. Today, 12 trains with about 3,000 people also had to be transported by road.

At the Chi Thanh railway tunnel, technical units have drilled technical exploration on the tunnel roof to assess the geology, from which they can come up with a reinforcement plan. In the tunnel, workers take turns spraying concrete at the landslide site to hold back the soil and rocks.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hoai, General Director of Project Management Board 85 (investor of the North-South railway renovation project), the geology at Chi Thanh tunnel is complicated, so repairs are difficult. The railway tunnels through this area were built during the French period, most of them are degraded, and are at high risk of landslides.

Most recently in April, a landslide at Bai Gio tunnel in Khanh Hoa paralyzed the North-South railway through the area for 10 days, causing damage of 50.4 billion VND.